One Possible Explanation

Jack Thompson hasn’t been a fixture around here for quite awhile, largely due to the Beetlejuzian notion that speaking his name might cause him to become corporeal. As is so often the case, it was all “fun and games” until someone contacted the FBI. Specifically, him. I did not want to be Investigated by a Federal Bureau. This had the effect of transforming what had been farce into genuine rage.

Eventually, though, as his behavior became more craven, more incoherent, and more contemptibly vile, it became difficult to stoke an appreciable hatred. That is to say, it was difficult to pile the hatred atop a growing bulb of genuine pity. He increasingly began to reference a divine source for his media campaigns, which made me wonder what other voices he was hearing, and what precisely they were telling him to do. In today’s incomparable strip, we posit one source.

This must be entered into the record, though: walking out of your own hearing? Truly, truly epic. I hope I can represent myself with as much vigor when I’m an irascible old coot.

I grabbed the Civilization Revolution demo yesterday in the hopes that I could check it out at the office, but it didn’t acquit itself very well in the five minutes before Gabriel switched the television to Boom Blox.

What I was looking for from Civ Revolution was, in essence, Civ One. Civ Two would also be acceptable. As their simulations have grown progressively more “robust,” I’ve liked them because they’re well made but they’re not what I want. Sequels have to do this, so I don’t fault them for it. The largely unassailed stature of the franchise proves that I’m on the wrong side of this issue. For my part, all I want is a version of Civ One that I can look at without vomiting.

That’s largely present, here. I was hoping they’d use the console version to consider a more aerodynamic design. Systematically I’d say that has happened, and old hands will probably feel like it’s a little too smooth in some areas, a bit too much inertia built into the mechanism.

I really, really don’t know about this interface. Parts of it are almost ridiculously didactic, Duplo you might say, like skywriting for idiots. It’s the sort of the thing the PC enthusiast fears when they hear that Fallout is shipping simultaneously for PC and consoles, only in reverse: they’ve made a kind of Reader’s Digest, Large Print Edition of Civilization. It’s ugly, stuttering, and lacks elegance. It doesn’t feel native to the machine.

I was grumbling about just this thing when, looking at the clock, I was surprised to find that two hours had passed.